


Living - for lack of a better word - Daylights

by LassieLowrider



Series: COC2019 [2]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Carry On Countdown 2019, Happy, I don't even know what to tag this, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21572680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LassieLowrider/pseuds/LassieLowrider
Summary: Okay, so I’ll admit I was scared shitless, but the nonchalant and almost joking way the fucking idiot spoke to me just made me very angry. Quite angry enough that it easily took over, smothering the fear with a pillow.Just like what I was going to do to the smug Chosen One.“What?” said the smug asshole, smugly. I absolutely was going to smother him, and I’d take great joy in it, too.or: Baz is almost certain about three things; one - he thinks Simon Snow is a vampire, two - he can't believe that could be true, three - no matter what, he's incredibly in love with him.
Relationships: Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Series: COC2019 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1553869
Comments: 3
Kudos: 32
Collections: Carry On Countdown 2019





	Living - for lack of a better word - Daylights

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own a thing.
> 
> Fill for the COC2019 day 2 prompt: role swap.

**Baz**

There was something  _ very  _ weird about Snow, other than him being the ‘Chosen One’.

Whenever I even thought the words ‘Chosen One’ I heard my aunt Fiona’s derisive snort at the term, so I tried to think about it as much as possible. It felt a bit like home, even just mentally hearing the snorts.

If I didn’t know better, I would’ve said he was plotting something. I realise that that’s what he’s been saying about  _ me _ for the past seven years, but there’s something about his behaviour that just doesn’t fit. Even if he was the Chosen One, receiving special training from the Mage - which seems extremely unlikely, considering the careful distance the Mage always keeps - none of it would account for the irregular disappearances Snow manages. 

He just goes up in smoke - not literally, but I wouldn’t put it past him, either - once or twice a week. The only thing I’ve figured out there’s in common all of the times is that he starts looking wan about the day before he goes missing, is gone for several hours the next day, and comes back looking - revived, for lack of a better word. 

If I didn’t know better, I’d call him a vampire. 

It fits, that’s the worst part. He’s pale as anything - I mean, yeah, he’s a redhead, but he’s paler than any human should be, redhead or not. He’s got this weird way of smiling - not that he’s ever done that in my direction, but I’ve seen him smile at both Bunce and Wellbelove plenty of times - where he keeps his mouth closed. I’ve heard of close-lipped smiles before, but I do think the saying was invented with Simon Snow in mind.

He can’t be, though. He  _ can’t  _ be a vampire, the very idea is ludicrous. He’s the Chosen One! No matter how ridiculous that nickname is, the fact remains that he’s very,  _ very  _ powerful, if having slight issues controlling that power. As if that wasn’t enough, no vampire had ever been allowed into Watford, and not even the Mage would’ve let one in, no matter how far he’s let standards fall since Mum died. 

Maybe that’s why I didn’t want to accept my own suspicions as truth. 

I just didn’t want to believe that the guy I’m head over heels in love with is a vampire, a creature like the ones who murdered my mother. It would’ve been me, too, hadn’t it been for the stomach bug I’d caught the day before. 

They’re monsters, and I don’t even want to be close to one - much less sharing a room with it. Of course, this is only idle guesswork, and the idea that Snow is a vampire isn’t even close enough to reliable that anyone, much less me, would entertain it.

**Simon**

I had to eat. Well, I had eaten, of course I had, but I needed to see to my ‘dietary requirements’ as Penny so nicely called it.

There wouldn’t be a deer left in the woods, much less a rat in the dungeons, soon enough. Back in the Normal world, I mostly ate cats, which probably was a major reason for me changing foster homes as often as I did. I did keep to the strays, and I hadn’t eaten a single one of my foster siblings, which I think proved a certain strength of character not many would have, much less show. 

It’s a vain way of thinking, I guess, but I have to have some pride in myself. Otherwise, I’d probably have killed myself - or at least let one of Baz’s schemes succeed. 

I’m not exactly happy or proud of my affliction, but I’ve gotten used to it by now. Maybe I’m lucky in that I lived my life in the Normal world and wasn’t exposed to all the prejudices about vampires. I probably would’ve killed myself if I had to suffer through  _ that  _ internalised self-hate.

**Baz**

He was gone again. I know I don’t have any business wondering, it’s no skin off my back, but I can’t help but be curious, anyway. Time to be proactive and do something about it, maybe. I’ve been wondering for almost seven years, I won’t let it be another one. They say curiosity killed the cat, but I’ve also heard satisfaction brought it back.

Decision made, I pulled the school blazer on and made my way out of the room I shared with Snow. A quick  _ follow in his steps _ lit his metaphysical tracks up like a Christmas tree, and with a furtive glance around (and my mental - in more ways than one - aunt Fiona yelling about me to ‘act like you belong’), I hurried off. 

The tracks led down into the dungeons, which probably surprised me more than it should have. If he is actually a vampire, isn’t the dungeons so stereotypical he should avoid them on principle? 

**Simon**

As I drained the latest rat I’d found, I heard footsteps coming closer. 

“Shit,” I hissed to myself, hurriedly extinguishing the lit candle I carried. Penny had magicked it -  _ light my way  _ \- so I would be the only one to see the light, but I always felt it better to be safe rather than sorry, though. Especially when it came to drinking the blood of innocent, dungeon-dwelling creatures.

Trying my best to melt into the wall, I could only watch as the flickering light of a torch approached in time with the footsteps. 

**Baz**

I rounded the corner, hot on Snow’s heels - quite literally. The closer I got to him, the brighter his footprints burnt, and now they were veritably blazing with proximity. When they all of a sudden ended, I also came to a stop. It was in the middle of a hallway, somewhere deep below the school - actually, it was probably somewhat close to Mum’s crypt.

Raising my eyes slowly from the floor, the torch-light following my eyes up, I caught sight of Snow’s shoes, heels pressed close to the wall. That  _ would  _ explain why the footprints just stopped. Trepidation made me track my eyes up Snow’s figure slower than I ever had before, and that’s saying something.

I met his gaze before properly processing what, exactly, I was seeing. He looked terrified. Scanning down his body again, I took in the whole view. His mouth was half-open, failing to contain the sheer amount of razor-sharp teeth he was currently equipped with. In one hand he held an unlit candle, smoking ever so slightly, and in the other - hovering awkwardly in the air - he held a struggling rat. 

I’m not ashamed to admit I screamed before turning on my heel and running.

**Simon**

Oh,  _ shit _ .

**Baz**

My scream still echoing through the hallway, my heartbeat pounding too loud for me to hear anything else, I ran. I ran for my life, terrified of what was chasing me. Maybe that’s why I didn’t pay proper attention to where I was actually heading, not until I ran headfirst into something - someone, even. Whoever it was stumbled forwards a few steps, while I lost my footing and fell backwards. 

Once I’d gathered my bearings, shaking away the cartoon birds flying around my head, I looked up and saw, to my horror, the very thing I was running from. Simon Snow.

**Simon**

Scream still ringing in my ears, I slumped back against the wall I’d been trying to melt into just seconds earlier. Bringing my hand up to rub at my face made me realise I still held the rat I’d been about to eat. Scoffing, I leant down and released the rat, which ran away with a squeak. 

With a conscious effort, I retracted my teeth. I wasn’t entirely sure how that worked - I somehow grew a new set of (very sharp) teeth, but it didn’t hurt my ordinary teeth at all? Once I was done with the, well,  _ eating living things  _ teeth, my regular teeth came back, no harm done. Sometimes I really wanted to see another vampire, just so I could finally find out what, exactly, was normal for vampires, and what was actually my very own flavour of weirdness.

Baz’s scream had just barely gone quiet when something ran full tilt into my back. Turning the stumble into a turn, I spun around to see Baz sitting on the floor, with a whole flock of little cartoon birds flying around his head.

I crouched down in front of him, not saying anything as he managed to get his hands under him and scramble backwards. He soon hit the other wall, making a credible impression of me about five minutes earlier. His efforts to blend into the stone wall didn’t succeed any more than mine had.

It was the most un-composed I’d ever seen Baz, and it was simultaneously hilarious and a bit sad.

**Baz**

Had I been speaking out loud, I would’ve sounded something like:

“V-v-v-v-vampire!” 

**Simon**

Stuttering, too. I wonder if he was even aware he was speaking out loud? 

“I am a vampire, yes, good on you for noticing,” I said, crouching down to be more at his height. Can’t imagine having what’s apparently the nightmare of your life looming over you is all that fun. I actually felt a bit rude and quite patronising doing it, but considering Baz had spent a considerable amount of time trying - and succeeding - to get me to cry, I didn’t regret it. Much. 

The sarcasm was apparently a bit too much to take, as Baz’s fear switched - very quickly - to anger. He was angry enough that there was actually steam coming out of his ears.

“What the  _ fuck _ , Snow?!” he swore, scrambling to his feet. His hands were still clutching at the wall, a death grip on the stones, but he was glaring hard enough that he’d probably manage to set me on fire by looking at me. “What the actual  _ fuck _ !”

I stood up from my crouching position - he’d tower over me no matter which, but this way he couldn’t loom angrily at least - in the smoothest move I’ve ever pulled. Sadly enough the only one who’d seen it was my archenemy, so it’s not like it was to much use.

**Baz**

Okay, so I’ll admit I was scared shitless, but the nonchalant and almost  _ joking  _ way the fucking idiot spoke to me just made me very angry. Quite angry enough that it easily took over, smothering the fear with a pillow.

Just like what I was going to do to the smug  _ Chosen One _ .

“What?” said the smug asshole, smugly. I absolutely was going to smother him, and I’d take great joy in it, too.

“What do you mean  _ what _ ! You can’t be a fucking vampire!” I insisted, torn between what my fear said I should do - cower - and what my rage claimed I should do - grab him by the lapels of the incredibly tacky school blazer he was wearing and shake him. 

“Uh…” he said, going shifty-eyed - as if he’d just now realised exactly how deep shit he was in. “I mean. I apparently can?”

“No! No you  _ cannot, _ because you! You’re the fucking Chosen One! What the  _ fuck  _ Snow!”

“I didn’t choose to be?”

“Tough luck! You are!” I turned away from him and began pacing between the walls of the dungeon hallway. It was a wide hallway, so I could pace properly, but it was still a hallway, so I didn’t quite get the satisfaction I wanted from it. “So you can just - just stop! Stop this vampire nonsense  _ immediately _ , that’s what you’re going to do.” 

**Simon**

Baz had an impressive way of nodding decisively, as if everything he’d just said would miraculously happen, and I’d immediately stop being a vampire.

“Baz. I’m sorry but it doesn’t work that way.” I stood silent for a long moment, just looking at him, considering exactly how honest I wanted to be. If I didn’t want this to spread all over the world, I decided I needed to be brutally honest. “Trust me, I’ve tried.”

He looked at me, in the same searching way he always did before deciding just what to say to in the shortest amount of time make me cry. In for a penny, in for a pound, I thought, deciding that I had nothing to lose by telling him.

“The only reason I’m not  _ dead _ is because it’s very difficult to do something about the whole ‘alive’ thing when you actually want to live.” I shrugged and looked away from him. It was incredibly difficult to meet his eyes. 

“We’ve shared a room for the past seven years, Snow,” he said flatly. He wasn’t usually very expressive, but this was flatter and more monotone than I’d ever heard him.

**Baz**

For seven years, I’d slept in the same room as a vampire - the very sort of creature who killed my Mum. I’d turned my back to him, had somewhere trusted that no matter what he wouldn’t hurt me. 

I’d bullied him - almost had him killed, almost made him lose his magic. He’s a vampire, and I can’t say I’m not terrified of him.

Yet, I can’t help but love him.

He looked a bit like a drowned cat where he stood, actually, and I felt a rush of fondness for this actual disaster of a person. 

“You haven’t killed or harmed me, despite the chance - and honestly, you’ve had good reasons too. Why?”

“Well,” he said, shifting nervously from foot to foot. I levelled an unimpressed glare at him, and I could almost see him pull himself up by the bootstraps. “You see, Baz, I realise that I’m a vampire, and you’re a raging asshole, but. Well. I’ve been crushing on you since second year, and I’d even dare say I’m in love, for some unfathomable reason.”

**Simon**

All the ways I saw that confession going, none of them involved Baz throwing himself at me and kissing the living - for lack of a better word - daylights out of me.

**Author's Note:**

> Listen up y'all.
> 
> I have not read a single word of _Wayward Son_ , and have not been spoiled in the least - despite being in a Carry On-dedicated Discord server.
> 
> If you spoil this for me, I will most certainly be very cross, and probably cry a little at you. Do you want that? Is that what you want?


End file.
